Yes Buffets really are gross

[NutsAboutGolf]

4 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

 

I don't consider myself as having any "status" not having any sort of frequent flyer miles or members of any tiered system with an airline, etc. . Should be interesting to see how all this plays out. 

 

You'll be fine, how it works is there are those who pay full price for a guaranteed 1st/biz seat and the unsold ones go to those who are on the upgrade waitlist.  Gate agents may call on those with top status prior to those who paid full price.  I have an issue that many gate agents do not enforce who's allowed to "pre-board" as I often see seemingly fit couples in 20s without kids pre-board but that's another conversation.   Your position on the wait list is based on a variety of factors yet your loyalty status is usually the most the dominate factor.  If routine 1st/business class seats are important to you, it makes a lot of sense to only book flights with one airline/alliance, yet this doesn't work for everyone.  You do have to fly quite a bit and may have to be flexible with your dates when you book.  If you ever want to go this route, you should do a lots of research on travel blogs to determine how everything works for a specific airline.  Another dynamic to consider, you can buy upgrades on various sites including ebay, often about $450 for an one way long haul for UA and AA.  Disclaimer, not all flights are eligible and you probably won't even know if you'll be upgraded at least until a few days before the flight and at times won't even know until you literally at the gate.

 

 

[OnTheJourney]

NAG....thanks for all that info. Much of it new to me. Selling airline seats on eBay?  Never heard of that either. I'm an eBay seller (to a rather small extent) and so have searched for quite a few unusual items over the years, but would have never even thought to look for business class airline seats. Have to check that one out 😆  Not surprised about the pre-boarding comment. Same sort of thing might apply to some (seemingly) "handicapped" people parking in designated spaces. My big issue with the airlines is overbooking. One time we had a long haul, typical evening flight to Europe that was oversold. It was announced that they needed something like 10 people to accept a cash amount or voucher to fly the next day. No takers. I seem to recall they started at a few hundred and eventually went over a thousand. I can still hear the one agent - once we were boarded even - coming around telling everyone "I really need 10 people to  get off this aircraft". Say what???  They finally got it as I recall and so everyone else had to wait till the willing participants'  luggage was unloaded, etc. I'm sure there were not enough seats but don't recall all the details. Craziness. Till all that sorted out, we figured we were going to miss our connection the following morning - and did. Ever since, I cringe if we're waiting for a flight and there is some sort of announcement about it being oversold. Then there was the time that we were delayed hours (awaiting a flight to Puerto Rico to start a cruise) because of a broken evacuation chute. Although we were the earliest flight of the morning schedule, they kept the others on time (that were scheduled later than us) and we just kept getting bumped. Found out from one of the maintenance people that there were mechanics there and ready to fix the thing as soon as the problem was diagnosed but they weren't allowed to touch it due to union regulations. THEN, once we got to PR the shuttle driver decided to give us a city tour. We saw us approaching the docks and then suddenly went the other way. It was getting really close to the end of embarkation time and so finally the guy behind me on the bus interrupted the driver's sightseeing descriptions and said in a less than patient tone of voice..."can we just go to the boat?!"   LOL...will never forget that. It never felt so good to get on a ship. Our little group must have been the last to board. The staff taking pictures, etc. as people got on were long gone. Oh well, we all have our stories!  

Edited May 31, 2020 by OnTheJourney

[Ride-The-Waves]

Another horror flight story:

 

Over weight flight out of TPA to NWK to change to flight for FCO to board a cruise next day.  Aircraft doors about to close and flight attendant asks for 4 "volunteers" to get off and take later flight for the added compensation - airplane was too heavy.  After several minutes 4 volunteers were corralled.  Flight attendant offered her thanks and stated that now we can take off and the tail wind will help get us airborne!  Tail wind?  We were ready to add ourselves to the "later" crowd...  Thankfully, we did make it into the air...  Haven't flown that airline since.

[NutsAboutGolf]

Yeah, the overbooking stinks, as long as they keep increasing the voucher offer, usually enough will get off.

[OnTheJourney]

6 hours ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

Another horror flight story:

 

Over weight flight out of TPA to NWK to change to flight for FCO to board a cruise next day.  Aircraft doors about to close and flight attendant asks for 4 "volunteers" to get off and take later flight for the added compensation - airplane was too heavy.  After several minutes 4 volunteers were corralled.  Flight attendant offered her thanks and stated that now we can take off and the tail wind will help get us airborne!  Tail wind?  We were ready to add ourselves to the "later" crowd...  Thankfully, we did make it into the air...  Haven't flown that airline since.

 

What airport is NWK???

 

 I just did some quick research and have found reports of this weight situation and passengers being asked to leave prior to departure. LOL on the tailwind helping to get airborne! Quite the opposite is true. By taking off into a (head) wind, the wind generates part of the required lift so the aircraft will get off sooner. Also there will be a lower ground speed and shorter takeoff run. Highly recommended over a tailwind, which consumes considerably more runway to get enough lift. Climb angle is reduced also. Very likely, then, the tail wind may well have been the main (or even only) reason for asking a few people to leave since, depending on other factors (especially the runway length), the flight crew may have been worried about the excess weight as being a problem. Maybe better than allowing all passengers to stay on the plane and arbitrarily throwing out about 20 larger suitcases!!    "Geez, I could have sworn we had that big blue one along with us when we got to the terminal. Wonder what happened to it????"  😯

 

At least they didn't push the volunteers out the door while the plane was already taxiing. I've been on small commuter flights where they rebalance the weight by having people move around to different rows and seats. Don't blame you for not going back. Good story though!!!

 

 

Edited May 31, 2020 by OnTheJourney

[NutsAboutGolf]

34 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

 

What airport is NWK???

 

 I just did some quick research and have found reports of this weight situation and passengers being asked to leave prior to departure. LOL on the tailwind helping to get airborne! Quite the opposite is true. By taking off into a (head) wind, the wind generates part of the required lift so the aircraft will get off sooner. Also there will be a lower ground speed and shorter takeoff run. Highly recommended over a tailwind, which consumes considerably more runway to get enough lift. Climb angle is reduced also. Very likely, then, the tail wind may well have been the main (or even only) reason for asking a few people to leave since, depending on other factors (especially the runway length), the flight crew may have been worried about the excess weight as being a problem. Maybe better than allowing all passengers to stay on the plane and arbitrarily throwing out about 20 larger suitcases!!    "Geez, I could have sworn we had that big blue one along with us when we got to the terminal. Wonder what happened to it????"  😯

 

At least they didn't push the volunteers out the door while the plane was already taxiing. I've been on small commuter flights where they rebalance the weight by having people move around to different rows and seats. Don't blame you for not going back. Good story though!!!

 

With overbooking, the unaccounted factor is when airline crew are unable to fulfill their next assignment due to their previous flight being delay or cancelled.  The airlines determines their best next assignment option which can include flying them on an overbooked flight at the last second to an assignment that doesn't have enough crew due to a different delay/cancellation.  Airlines have to cancel flights when there isn't enough crew.  Worst case scenario happened when the poor Doctor was physically dragged off and was concussed.

[OnTheJourney]

Makes sense. I can recall many of my shorter commuter flights where there were announcements about waiting for a flight crew to arrive prior to being able to board. 

Edited May 31, 2020 by OnTheJourney